Tawny Kitaen, the sultry red-haired actress who appeared in rock music videos during the heyday of MTV and starred opposite Tom Hanks in the 1984 comedy “Bachelor Party,” has died. She was 59.

What can an apartment building that once hosted royalty tell us about Chicago’s Norwegian American community? Geoffrey Baer has the story of this former social club designed by a pair of famous Chicago architects.

As the COVID-19 pandemic eases, a plan takes shape for a number of Chicago events this summer and fall, the “latest step in our mission to fully restore a sense of normalcy within our city,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

Thanks to support from the Illinois Department of Public Health, Chicago theater company Collaboraction is exploring the impact of oral history, one story at a time. We learn about the group’s newest project, “Family Tree Stories,” and how it’s working to unite the city through storytelling.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association has just announced that beginning May 27, and running through June 13, the CSO will perform its first concerts for a live audience since March 2020.

After helming the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville for many years, the South Side native has returned to the city to lead the Chicago History Museum. Donald Lassere joins us to talk about expanding the museum’s mission to all of Chicago. 

This month’s Black Voices Book Club selection traces the civil rights trail blazed by Dr. C.T. Vivian. We discuss Vivian’s legacy with Steve Fiffer, the co-author of “It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior.”

Themes of justice, pride and community have blossomed in murals along Chicago’s streets and storefronts, creating a constantly evolving and thought-provoking backdrop to a tumultuous year.

The veteran stage and screen actress whose flair for maternal roles helped her win an Oscar as Cher’s mother in the romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” has died. She was 89.

The NFL Draft gets underway Thursday evening and after a disappointing and deflating end to last season Bears fans are hoping for some game-ready reinforcements. 

He has been playing the mouth harp since he bought his very first one at age 11 for just $1. But he’s not just a musician. We talk with Billy Branch about his mission to give blues the recognition it deserves.

Scientists are exploring centuries-old paintings from colonial-era Mexico, searching for clues to find out more about the artwork. We visit the National Museum of Mexican Art for a meet-up of art and science.

With most traditional theater spaces off-limits and Zoom an increasingly annoying way to have to watch anything, two Chicago opera companies have demonstrated in radically different ways that “all the world is a stage” — or can be turned into one.

Arts 77, a new citywide arts recovery and reopening plan named with a nod to Chicago’s 77 community areas, will work to support local artists and organizations, a sector “decimated by the global pandemic,” according to an official.

Our trip down memory lane with the WTTW program “Our People” from the late 1960s and early ‘70s brought back memories for one former Chicagoan. Here is his story.

The 93rd Academy Awards will begin at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC. There will be no host, no audience, nor face masks for nominees attending the ceremony at Los Angeles’ Union Station — this year’s hub for a show usually broadcast from the Dolby Theatre.